Permanent Establishment: a “fixed” place of business through duration in Asia

Permanent Establishment: a “fixed” place of business through duration.

Relating Permanent Establishment in Taiwan, as yet there is no formal legislation, ruling, or court case on the definition of a fixed place of business in terms of the duration for which the place is used.

However, there are some informal discussions within the tax authority concerning
investment bankers’ activities regarding the application of business profit
under DTAs. Due to the unique nature of the investment banking business,
investment bankers travel frequently from one country to another. One business
activity may also be related to different projects or different clients. These all
contribute to complicating the Permanent Establishment issue for investment banking business.

Therefore, it seems that the tax authority may not totally rely on the terms of the service agreement. Instead, it will also review any preparation work conducted
before the effective date of the service agreement. For example, the time spent on
preparation work will also be considered in determining Permanent Establishments under DTAs. These activities may include, but are not limited to, preparation meetings, liaison, performance of due diligence and advice given before listing. In addition, the time spent for the same client, though for different projects, will be aggregated for determining a Permanent Establishment.

More on Permanent Establishment at Permanent Establishment in Portuguese.